Contents

The community of Nanisivik was built to support the Nanisivik Mine, a lead-zinc mine on Baffin Island. The mine was serviced by a jetty for receiving ocean freight, later used by the Canadian Coast Guard for training,[2] and the Nanisivik Airport, which was capable of receiving jet aircraft and closed in 2011. Falling metal prices closed the mine in 2002.[3]

On 8 August 2007, CBC News reported that Canadian Forces documents showed plans to convert the site into a naval station. The plan would turn the former mine's existing port into a deepwater facility at a cost $60 million although total costs in 2011 were set at $175 million with an extra $12 million for the design.[4][5] On 10 August 2007, Prime MinisterStephen Harper announced construction of a new docking and refuelling facility at Nanisivik for the Canadian Forces, in an effort to maintain a Canadian presence in Arctic waters during the navigable season (June–October). The choice for Nanisivik as a site was partially based on its location within the eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage, via Admiralty Inlet, and the existence of a deep-water berthing facility at the site, as well as a location of the airport. The United States Air Force's Thule Air Base is 600 km (370 mi) to the northeast in Greenland.

Detailed planning for the project began in August 2007, with environmental studies and assessments being carried out in the summer of 2008.[6]

In 2011 and 2012, the government started backing down on the Nanisivik conversion plans, explaining that construction in the far north is too expensive. The station will be primarily used for refuelling Arctic patrol and other government vessels. The port's operational time was also scaled back to just a four-month period in the summertime.[7] Construction was expected to begin in 2013, with the station operational by 2016.[8] However, construction delays continued and the opening of the port was put off until 2017 with the intent to be fully operational by 2018.[7]

The design was later downgraded to a refueling station. The base will now consist of storage tanks for fueling the new Harry DeWolf-classoffshore patrol vessels, a site office and a wharf's operator shelter. The main purpose of the base will be to allow the new class to patrol the breadth of Canada's arctic areas during the four month summer season.[11][12] The facility will have two 3.75-million-litre (820,000 imp gal; 990,000 US gal) fuel tanks connected directly to the jetty by a pipeline. The base will also have unheated storage facility.[13]

Engineering for the first of four phases of design for the facility is being completed by the British Columbia office of WorleyParsons for a cost of $900,000. This phase will include preliminary design work and construction requirements. Construction was expected to begin in 2011, and was expected to be operational by 2014.[14] However, it was announced in 2011 that construction would be delayed until 2013 as they are still in the design stage and the site would not be completed until 2016.[5] At the same time the decontamination of the site had not begun but was expected to start in summer of 2011.[15]

The project is substantially behind schedule, with Nyrstar NV, a mining and metals company, performing remediation work since 2010 with the tanks from the tank farm being disposed of in 2011.[16] The costs rose $16 million above the proposed $100 million budget by 2013.[17]

Delays have also been caused by the sinking of the wharf. In 2010 measurements taken showed that the wharf had sunk about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) and causes were looked for. Drilling performed in 2011 showed a deep layer of clay below the wharf, leading engineers to believe the clay is compressing and settling the wharf. The settling is among the reasons the plan for the port was scaled back.[18] Reports later surfaced that the cost of the original plan more than doubled its original estimate, coming in at $258 million. The Department of Defence then scaled back the plan to only operate during the summer, remove the jet-capable airstrip and reduce the infrastructure at the port to a smaller tank farm, less personnel requirements and an unheated warehouse.[19] These delays and project design changes have pushed the operational date to 2018.[20] However, after receiving approval from the Nunavut Impact Review Board in 2013, construction began in August 2014. In 2015, rock crushing and other site preparation techniques began and in 2016–17, the roads and the tank farm were constructed.[11] By July 2017, the roofs of the fuel tanks were being placed. Final checks on the facility are to be performed during the summer months of 2018 in preparation for the base becoming operational in late 2018.[21]